163 financing rounds enabled Swiss startups to raise 2.6 billion Swiss francs since the beginning of the year (2.6 billion euros). A number up 50% year on year for the first half of the year, which turns out to be quite exceptional in view of the economic situation which has severely hampered investment in innovation.
The weather is very nice in Switzerland, for a country that did not weigh as heavily as France or Germany in terms of young shoots.
3 new unicorns
Over the past six months, Switzerland has benefited from several large-scale transactions. 13 financing transactions exceeded 50 million Swiss francs (50 million euros) between January and June, reports a report by Swiss Venture Capital Report. Taking advantage of this momentum, three startups exceeded the billion euros of valuationto enter the circle of “unicorns” so publicized and ogled by investors and acclaimed by politicians.
These new Swiss unicorns are:
- SonarSource, with 375 million euros raised in April for its tool for detecting errors in computer code.
- ClimeWorks, launched in 2009, which raised 600 million Swiss francs (600 million euros) for its CO2 capture system.
- And finally Scandit, which raised $150 million in February for its barcode reading and product identification tool, used by La Poste, Carrefour and FedEx.
As elsewhere in Europe and around the world, forecasts of rising interest rates have significantly slowed fundraising since May. In some sectors, fundraising is almost non-existent, just as it has become very complicated to enter the stock market without clenching your teeth and seeing your capitalization melt by half (Hello Deezer).
“The analysis of the first half nevertheless reveals the first signs of a slowdown”wrote Swiss Venture Capital Report, which explained the dynamics of the beginning of the year as follows: “the good figures for the first half are also due to the post-corona recovery”.
In a survey conducted by Seca among 80 Swiss venture capitalists, it was agreed that a 25% drop in investments would occur in the second half of the year. A slowdown all the same well controlled and in particular thanks to the arrival of new industries in which Switzerland has specialized.
Crypto Valley and its 4,400 employees
Over the past two years, the country has been able to take advantage of its low tax on capital to invite new blockchain companies and cryptocurrencies to settle down. Whether in Zurich, Geneva, and especially Zug which is described as “Crypto Valley”, many boxes were born and are deployed from Switzerland. We think in particular of Swiss bitcoin companywhich has democratized payments in cryptos whether in businesses or for taxes.
In all, the Swiss “Crypto Valley” already has 850 companies and 4,400 employees. An attractiveness explained by Alexis Roussel, entrepreneur and crypto specialist in Switzerland: “In the digital world, when you have to create your structure, the location is of little importance, except for the legal certainty it offers. This is what Zug knows how to do: it has always been a favorable place for private initiatives”.